The Way Home
by akaisherry47
Summary: The great detective on his way home after yet another adulterous case. (Entry for PoirotCafe SS Contest #21)


Author's Notes: Before I came across the prompt at PC, I just realized I'd lost some data containing working parts for my unfinished stories, so in more ways than one, I might as well be trying to bounce back with this piece.

I've always wanted to try writing about the self-proclaimed great detective himself, but I figured that if ever I was really going to do it, the concept had to be a little more hard-boiled than his usual renditions. Given the word cap as well the limits of my ability however, I don't think I achieved what I was truly going for so pardon for that. Guess this is what some people would call half-boiled instead.

I also wanted to try a slightly different technique this time, one that involved little to no dialogue... In any case, I had a lot of fun just going through the writing process again after so long. Hope you enjoy reading it just as much!

Disclaimer: Neither I, nor PC own any copyrights used in this story by any means.

* * *

Five hundred thousand yen. Kogoro pulled the check from his coat pocket as he trod along the streets of Ginza and triumphantly held it up under the insipid moonlight, still bucked up in a hash of disbelief and joy over scoring such hefty bounty in just three days' worth of hard work. That is, if sniffing out someone else's dirty laundry or, more specifically, affair, could be considered difficult. Definitely not for a sleuth of his caliber.

Ogling at the zeroes lined up neatly behind that solitary five, he'd already begun splurging on his spoils at a nearby club with his mind, going wild in a booth with two gorgeous hostesses, enthralling them about how the great Kogoro Mori had once again salvaged a marriage with his savvy over beer and some nibbles. Nobody was waiting for him at home anyway so it was fine even if he went home in the wee hours. His daughter and the freeloader both went out-of-town again and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon, and it wasn't as if he had a wife who cared...

Just as the last train whizzed straight into the station, Kogoro's mood sank into the cold asphalt.

When he first decided to go private, Kogoro had expected a ton of requests about spying on somebody, particularly unfaithful lovers and spouses. And sure enough, such inquiries arrived at his doorstep and flooded his mailbox several times a week, often alternating with requests from people concerning their missing pets like the chorus of a boring commercial jingle. A bunch of them paid good money for his services, but he didn't need to look into a minimum number of cases to realize that he wasn't a big fan of affairs. It was so tedious, and illegal to a certain degree, tailing suspected lovers around all day, alternating between the culprits until they finally met up so he could finally swoop in with his camera like a vulture at the first sight of festering flesh. A writer for some celebrity rag might get a kick out of it, but not him.

Still, what was he going to do? He was a pro, just as he was a father. Besides, who in his right mind would turn down half a million for a legit job that didn't involve dealing with dead bodies and the tragedies that bore them? Surely not an ex-cop who wasn't particularly being headhunted by juicy magazine publishers, let alone any other white collar company out there.

Even so, Kogoro couldn't deny the tinge of repulsion some of those requests brought to him, especially when the evidence, as well as his gut, agreed that the suspect was in fact innocent, and that the client simply had trust issues. Take the case that yielded his half-million check, for instance. The husband accused his lovely wife of having an affair after he learned that, behind his back, she'd been getting in touch with some old pals from the marketing firm she used to work in before getting hitched, the most dubious of them being an old guy friend who was on the same team as her. His suspicion made a turn for the worse when he'd eavesdropped on a phone conversation between his wife and the guy, seemingly agreeing to meet at a hotel in Ginza. That was where one Kogoro Mori came into play.

For two days, Kogoro kept tabs around the couple's apartment in Sumida, as well as the wife's former workplace, but all he found were even more pieces that confirmed of his hunch – that the wife wasn't cheating at all and his client was just being paranoid. At last, he tracked the missus all the way to Ginza the day of their "tryst", but not only did he find her and the supposed adulterer – who turned out to be a gay friend of hers since college – at the hotel's dining hall with all her former co-workers, he also learned that she was seriously considering starting her professional career over again because she was getting bored at home with her husband always at work even on weekends, that she wanted to do something meaningful with her life once more rather than let her hopes as well as her feelings for her partner freeze over until it turned into angst. The latter, he heard straight from the wife, who somehow saw through his light disguise from three tables away and invited him over to theirs. Perks and hassles of being famous and all.

'Seriously, if you have the time and money to hire a pro, you should've just gone on a trip with your wife or something', was what Kogoro wanted to say to his client's face when they met up a while ago for his professional fee. Instead, the detective explained the situation earnestly and offered him some food for thought, not to ensure the safety of his check as much as to cap of a rare happy denouement in the best way he could manage. He always had a flair for the dramatic, after all.

No matter how good he'd gotten at these types of cases after all this time, and no matter how much he got paid for them, Kogoro still wasn't a big fan of having to uncover the facts for people who, for some reason, just couldn't muster the guts to look squarely at the truth, let alone make things right. How could someone like him not hate watching marriages and families fall apart because of one stupid choice after another anyway?

'Maybe I should've been more understanding too…' The thought dribbled around inside Kogoro's head as he thrust the strip of paper back into his pocket. He didn't feel like celebrating this small victory with strangers anymore, suddenly finding his dark, cloistered office a more appealing venue for a six pack and some cigarettes.

And so, with the vigor of a man renewed with enlightenment, Kogoro rushed after the day's final round-trip. Lucky for him his legs could still withstand a marathon, and the train was waiting to fill up by the time he reached the platform.

Now if only he had some cash left for a ticket… Damn that ten thousand yen coffee he had this morning.

Home never seemed so far away for Kogoro, but at least he had half a million to get him through the night.

* * *

The End.

Written by akaisherry47


End file.
